No, the director of the new Evil Dead film is not making a film based on Dante Alighieri’s classic poem. He might, however, helm a film based on a video game of the same name. Fede Alvarez, who wowed audiences earlier this year with his brutal new take on the classic Sam Raimi film, is in talks to helm Dante’s Inferno, based on the Electronic Arts game. The game borrows from Dante’s classic poem in that you actually play as a knight named after the poet who travels into the nine rings of Hell to rescue his beloved Beatrice. Jay Basu wrote the most recent draft of the script and Universal Pictures will distribute. Read More »

Briefly:Fede Alvarez made waves with the short Panic Attack, and this year got more attention with his new version of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. We know that Alvarez could well make another Evil Dead movie, but now he and writing partner Rodo Sayagues have set up a secret sci-fi project at Media rights Capital.

Alvarez is attached to direct the film called Machina. We don’t know much more than that at this point.

While promoting the Evil Dead blu-ray release Alvarez referred to the project a couple times in general terms, calling it a sci-fi action piece that he was eager to write and shoot. That said, back when Panic Attack was a big deal (circa 2009) Alvarez made a deal with Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures to do a sci-fi film. That didn’t happen — obviously he did Evil Dead instead — and at the time there was a plan to have another screenwriter script the sci-fi picture based on Alvarez’s idea. Could this be based on the same idea he’s wanted to develop for several years? [THR]

Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will begin playing out in theaters next month, but meanwhile the studio is already getting their plans in place for Phase Three. Earlier this year, Kevin Feigeconfirmed that Doctor Strange would “definitely” be involved in the next stage of the Marvel franchise. No director or star has been announced just yet, but rumors about who might fill those roles are starting to spring up.

According to a new report, actor/writer Justin Theroux is being eyed for the Doctor Strange role, and may even be working on the script already. Meanwhile, Evil Dead remake helmer Fede Alvarez is said to have met with Marvel Studios to discuss the Doctor Strange directing gig. Alvarez himself denies it, but it’s not like we’ve never seen a filmmaker lie about this kind of thing before. Hit the jump to keep reading.

The remake of Sam Raimi‘s first signature film is now open. After a long period of speculation about the possibility of a fourth Raimi Evil Dead film, or a remake by some other filmmaker, audiences have a chance to see what Fede Alvarez has done with Evil Dead. This remake has some ideas of its own, as it follows a group of young friends to a remote cabin where one plans to detox. But it also has a heavy reliance on Raimi’s set pieces, many of which are firmly entrenched as calling cards for his career.

Beginning with its premiere at SXSW there has been mixed reception to the remake — some love it for the over the top violence, while others (myself included) think that, yeah, the gore is good, but there’s not enough of a movie there. So weigh in on the conversation — let us know what you thought of Alvarez’s Evil Dead, and keep in mind that spoilers are fully encouraged in the comment thread below. Read More »

In my review of Evil Dead, this year’s remake of Sam Raimi‘s career-making 1981 film, I mentioned that this movie might actually exist in the same timeline as Raimi’s movies. It isn’t locked down in the film that such a thing is the case, but it is suggested.

Recently, original Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell went a lot farther, saying at a post-screening Q&A that plans for sequels to both this new Evil Dead series and Raimi’s own movies might eventually merge the two storylines. We couldn’t confirm his quote at the time. At today’s WonderCon panel for the remake, director Fede Alvarez confirmed the ambition to top off his own Evil Dead 2 and Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness 2 with a film that brings the storylines together. Read More »

Briefly: You can head to this link for our review of Fede Alvarez‘s Evil Dead remake, in the wake of its premiere at SXSW. But we have an associated note to present along with the review. During the post-show Q&A last night the director and co-writer of the new installment of the horror series said “I guess this is an official announcement: We are already writing Evil Dead 2.”

Bruce Campbell, star and producer of the original, and a producer on this remake, chimed in to say that a trilogy is being imagined.

Update: Alvarez has talked a bit more about the plans for his own Evil Dead sequel. Read More »

When you watched Evil Dead II, did you feel pain when Bruce Campbell cut off his own hand, not because of any empathy for the horror, but because Sam Raimi didn’t show the chainsaw actually hitting flesh? If so, then stop reading and order a ticket to Evil Dead, because Fede Alvarez‘s remake is the movie for you. Drenched in gore, the movie doesn’t ever flinch away from violence.

Raimi’s original The Evil Dead was calculated to appeal to drive-in audiences, but his irrepressible personality shone through the exploitation effort. With star Bruce Campbell and producer Robert Tapert, he produced a blend of horror and physical comedy — splatstick, working from an underlying principle that proclaimed “the gore, the merrier!” — that had obvious roots in Three Stooges and Buster Keaton comedies. Raimi, Campbell, and Tapert set out to make the screen run red with blood, but ended up creating something more unique than another horror quickie.

All of which is preamble to set up the fact that Fede Alvarez’s skill with effects shines in his own Evil Dead. But look away from the gore and you’ll see a confused movie that lurches in different directions from one step to the next. It barely establishes a personality of its own beyond the brutal gore. Appropriately for a film that traffics in bodily dismemberment, Evil Dead ’13 is less than the sum of its parts. Read More »

Remakes of decades-old films are a common sight at the multiplex these days, but even by those standards Identity Films and Flat Penny Films are reaching pretty far back. The two companies have just acquired the rights to Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning play State of the Union, which was adapted into a movie by Frank Capra in 1948.

That picture starred Spencer Tracy as a presidential candidate backed by a newspaper magnate, played by Angela Lansbury. Katharine Hepburn portrayed Tracy’s estranged wife. While State of the Union isn’t really considered a career highlight for any of them, they still leave some big shoes for the new cast to fill. [Variety]

After the jump, things take a turn for the spooky with new Carrie and Evil Dead images.

Vomiting blood, severed limbs, slicing tongues, everything we’ve seen from Fede Alvarez‘s remake of Evil Deadhas been gory enough to make some people queasy. After watching the red band trailer, many questioned how a film with that apparent level of intense violence could get an R-rating. Turns out, they were right to ask. Alvarez took to Twitter to reveal he has submitted his first cut of the film to the MPAA, and that it got an NC-17 rating.

That rating forced him to go in and recut down to an R before the film’s April 12th release. Read More »